Leigh Whipper By Dale Shields Leigh Whipper the first Black member of the Actors’ Equity Association (1913) * Born in (1876) Charleston, South Carolina, died (1975) New York City, New York. “Although a strong presence in the (still extant) Oscar Micheaux drama Symbol of the Unconquered (1920), gaunt-looking African-American performer Leigh Whipper had …